Putin: Ukraine army is NATO legion aimed at restraining Russia

The Ukrainian army is essentially a ‘NATO legion’ which doesn’t
pursue the national interests of Ukraine, but persists to restrict
Russia, President Vladimir Putin says.

“We often say: Ukrainian Army, Ukrainian Army. But who is
really fighting there? There are, indeed, partially official
units of armed forces, but largely there are the so-called
‘volunteer nationalist battalions’,” said Putin.

He added that the intention of Ukrainian troops is connected with
“achieving the geopolitical goals of restraining
Russia.” Putin was addressing students in the city of St.
Petersburg.

According to Putin, the Ukrainian army “is not an army, but a
foreign legion, in this case a foreign NATO legion, which, of
course, doesn’t pursue the national interests of Ukraine.”

Kiev has been reluctant to find political solutions to the crisis
in eastern Ukraine and only used the ceasefire to regroup its
forces, the president stressed.

“Unfortunately official Kiev authorities refuse to follow the
path of a peaceful solution. They don’t want to resolve [the
crisis] using political tools,” Putin said, adding that
first Kiev authorities had first used law enforcement, then
security services and then the army in the region.

“It is essentially a civil war [in Ukraine]. In my view, many
in Ukraine already understand this,” Putin added.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has reacted to President
Putin’s words, calling his statement “nonsense.”

"The statement that there is a NATO legion in Ukraine is
nonsense. There is no NATO legion," Stoltenberg told
reporters.

Already tense situation in eastern Ukraine gone downhill in past
2 weeks. The escalation of violence came after a controversial
incident at a Kiev-controlled checkpoint near the town of
Volnovakha, where 12 passengers were killed on January 13.

Local residents inspect their home, which was damaged by shelling in the
village of Sartan, near Mariupol
(Reuters / Nikolay Ryabchenko)

Kiev and the militia blamed each other for the incident.

Following escalation, Kiev ordered “massive fire" on
militia-held regions on January 18. The self-proclaimed Donetsk
republic’s leader accused Kiev of trying to restart the war.

Violent confrontation between Ukrainian army troops and rebels
reached its climax last week, when Mariupol in the Donetsk Region was shelled. At least 30 people were killed and
over 100 wounded.

Kiev and militia troops traded blame, with rebels insisting they
didn’t’ have weapons close enough to the city to carry out such a
deadly attack.

Western countries reiterated accusations of Russia backing the
rebel forces, and so being partly responsible for violations of
the Minsk agreement. They called for more sanctions against
Moscow.

People remove debris near the building damaged by shelling on Saturday
in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine, January 25, 2015
(Reuters / Nikolay
Ryabchenko)

On Monday, US President Barack Obama promised the United States
would examine options to "ratchet up the pressure on
Russia" on the Ukraine issue.

At the same time, US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said Washington
has "more tools" available to increase pressure on
Russia.

"I think we have seen that the sanctions work to create real
stress in the economy. We have more tools. I am not today going
to enumerate what the tools are but we have more tools," Lew
told a news conference in Brussels.

Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski also called on the EU to
consider imposing tougher sanctions on Moscow, saying: "The
response of the Western world should be very firm.”

Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier also hinted at
further restrictions, adding that "an attack or a broad
offensive on Mariupol would be a qualitative change in the
situation to which we would have to react.”

Vladimir Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov called fresh
threats of anti-Russian sanctions “an absolutely destructive
and unjustified course that would eventually prove to be
shortsighted.”

“Instead of stepping up the pressure on those who refuse to
start a dialogue and to solve the conflict in a peaceful way, we
hear they want to resume this economic blackmail against
Russia,” Peskov noted in his statement.

Quotes

"There is beauty in truth, even if it's painful. Those who lie, twist life so that it looks tasty to the lazy, brilliant to the ignorant, and powerful to the weak. But lies only strengthen our defects. They don't teach us anything, help anything, fix anything or cure anything. Nor do they develop one's character, one's mind, one's heart or one's soul." Jose Harris

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